This simple, stylish salad is made of crisp, vibrantly colored watermelon 🍉 radish, sweet rainbow 🥕carrots, juicy blood 🍊 orange and lettuce. It's a delicious 🌈 rainbow in a salad.
Occasionally I'll get heirloom vegetables like watermelon radishes and rainbow carrots in my farm share. To make the most of this burst of colors, I slice these vegetables thinly. This reveals the beautiful burst of magenta inside the watermelon radishes and the color striations inside the rainbow carrots.
In this salad, I used thinly sliced watermelon radishes, rainbow carrots, blood oranges, naval oranges, green butter lettuce and curly endive leaves for color contrast. Then simply dressed it with a spritz of oil and vinegar.
Ingredients you’ll need
watermelon radish
What is watermelon radish? It's an heirloom variety of a Chinese daikon radish. It reveals a star burst of stunning magenta color in the center, with a greenish white rind when you slice it crosswise. It's flavor is mild and mellow.
If you can't find watermelon radish, don't worry. Good substitutes include daikon radish and red radish.
rainbow carrots
Rainbow carrots are an heirloom variety of carrots. They usually come in purple, yellow, orange, white and red. Slicing them lengthwise can reveal stunning color contrasts in the striations, such as purple and yellow.
If you can't find rainbow carrots, use regular carrots.
blood oranges and oranges
A blood orange is a naturally mutated variety of orange with blood-red, crimson colored flesh, which is where it gets its name from. Blood oranges can vary in tartness and sweetness and taste similar to regular oranges.
Alternate slices of blood orange and naval orange for color contrast.
salad greens
Use any salad greens that you like. I used butter lettuce and curly endive leaves for their interesting shapes, textures and colors.
oil and vinegar
Dress the salad just before serving otherwise the salad can wilt.
Drizzle your favorite salad oil over the salad. Extra virgin olive oil is always great on salad. Sunflower seed oil and walnut oil are also tasty choices.
Use a light-colored, mild, floral vinegar such as rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or Champagne vinegar. Use a spray bottle to mist the salad with vinegar to keep it looking fresh and glistening.
Serving suggestions
Serve this as a side salad or make it a main course by adding protein.
Some salad protein ideas include:
- toasted hazelnuts
- walnuts
- chickpeas
- shaved Parmesan cheese
- burrata
- blue cheese
- grilled shrimp
- poached shrimp
- grilled salmon
- canned tuna
- sardines
- grilled chicken
- poached chicken
- boiled egg
- sliced leftover steak
Make ahead
You can arrange the salad ahead of time. Keep it covered in the fridge for up to a day. Dress the salad just before serving or it can wilt.
Frequently asked questions
Blood oranges get their color from anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are dark red pigments. They are antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic due to their ability to reduce cellular damage from free radicals, which reduces the chances of healthy cells becoming cancerous.
Watermelon radish tastes crisp, juicy, and not peppery like a red radish. It tastes like a radish, not like watermelon 🙂
Watermelon radish and rainbow carrot salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 salads 1x
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
This simple, stylish salad is made of crisp, vibrantly colored watermelon radish, sweet rainbow carrots, juicy blood orange and lettuce. It's a delicious rainbow in a salad.
Ingredients
- 4 medium rainbow carrots, thinly sliced lengthwise
- 1 cup watermelon radish, thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 blood orange, washed and thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 naval orange, washed and thinly sliced crosswise
- ½ cup butter lettuce leaves
- ½ cup curly endive leaves
- 1 teaspoon vinegar (rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or Champagne vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon oil (extra virgin olive oil, sunflower seed oil or walnut oil)
Instructions
- Arrange carrot slices, radish slices, orange slices and lettuce leaves on a salad plate.
- Dress the salad just before serving. Drizzle with oil and spritz with vinegar.
Notes
Dress the salad just before serving otherwise the salad can wilt.
Use a spray bottle to mist the salad with vinegar to keep it looking fresh and glistening.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Lunch
- Method: Salad
- Cuisine: American
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